At least seven people were crushed to death today when a speeding bus ploughed through anti-American demonstrators during a protest march in a Bangladesh town.

Thousands of Bangladeshis took to the streets in towns and cities across the country after Friday prayers in protest at the US led air strikes against Afghanistan.

A speeding bus with faulty brakes raced through Islamic protesters marching along a road in Cox's Bazar, a coastal town 185 miles from the capital, Dhaka. The accident killed seven people and injured 50 others, police said.